Trouble
by scoob2222
Summary: When people at CTU begin complainging Jack is forced to make some decisions. Jack and Chloe fic.


People at CTU liked working with Chloe O'Brian. Sure she was sarcastic, lacked most, if not all, social skills and could be downright scary when she wanted to be, but she got the job done. She knew what she was doing and she knew her people. She knew who could do what and who couldn't, she knew if you'd lost someone recently and weren't in top condition and she dealt with it accordingly, which meant she shouldered a lot of work that she could have saddled on someone else. She had faith in her people, even if she showed them by telling them to stop being stupid and do the work, and she protected them. If they went down she accepted the blame with them, because if they made a mistake, it was her mistake for not catching it.

It wasn't just IT that liked working with her; it was the field agents as well. They might love saving the world, but they loved continuing to live after they saved it. And they knew that their best chance of coming home everyday was her leading them. She hated losing people, she felt it was her job to bring those men and women back everyday and she bore the weight of that, because it was her reasonability.

Being that Chloe was well-liked it did not sit well with her co-workers when someone came in and gave her a hard time. But this person wasn't just difficult, she was completely undermining Chloe's authority and that was beyond just difficult, it was dangerous.

Curtis has heard the mumblings of problems, but considering the two people involved he hoped that he wouldn't have to deal with it. Unfortunately, when he got cornered by an ambush made of not only techs, but also his own team of field agents he knew he had to take action. Buchanan was not going to be happy.

&&&&&&

When Jack reached Bill's office he found Curtis was already there, sitting, which was strange, since he was almost always standing and ready for action and they both looked extremely tense. Something was bad.

"Bill, Curtis," he nodded as he took a seat, "You wanted to see me."

"Yes, Jack, Curtis has brought to my attention…a matter and before I decide anything I wanted your input."

"Of course, is this about the attack we stopped last week New York?"

Bill shook his head, "Not directly, but it is having an effect on everything around here."

"Okay," Jack nodded, Bill and Curtis exchanged looks but remained silent, "Do you want to tell me?"

Bill cleared his throat, "There appears to be some confusion about who is in control of IT and Comms here. Several of our techs and field agents have been complaining….about Audrey."

"Audrey?" Jack's forehead wrinkled in confusion, "Audrey has nothing to do with IT, and Chloe runs it."

"Yes, well, it seems that Audrey had been, undermining some of Chloe's orders and it's led to a lot of confusion."

"Chloe hasn't mentioned anything about this to me. I talk to her everyday, why wouldn't she?"

"It appears," Bill started, but then glanced at Curtis.

"Jack, I started getting these complaints about a week after Audrey got here, so I did a little asking around, listened in on some conversations, and apparently well, several people have heard Audrey tell Chloe that, considering her history at CTU it would not be in her best interest to complain about the daughter of the Secretary of Defense."

Jack was stunned into silence. He could not imagine Audrey ever doing such a thing, but he knew that Bill and Curtis would not have brought this to him if they was not sure.

"And you want me to, talk to her," he finally asked.

Bill shook his head, "Only if you think it's best. As director of CTU, I have no problem dealing with it. However, Audrey is here as a consultant from the DOD and as she said, her father is the Secretary of Defense. If there is a way to deal with this without having to, well for lack of a word, embarrass her or transfer her back to D.C."

"It's bad enough that you are considering a transfer?"

Bill nodded, "Jack to be honest with you, almost three-fourths of our field agents have complained that they feel unsafe going into the field at this point. They have all but demanded that Audrey back off and that Chloe be allowed to do her job. I cannot put my people at risk because one person is unable to accept her role."

Jack was silent for a moment, "I, uh, I will talk to Audrey as soon as possible and get this taken care of."

"Thank you, Jack, I think that is the best solution."

&&&&&&

"WHAT?" Audrey bellowed that night after Jack had finished speaking, "That little bitch went and complained about me."

"AUDREY," Jack said harshly, "Don't call Chloe that. She didn't do anything. Her people complained, my people complained. They have been for weeks."

Audrey rolled her eyes, "Well, she put them up to it."

"Audrey, you know better than that. Three-fourths of an office does not complain because one person tells them to," he took a deep breath, "None of that even matters now. What matters is you backing off and letting Chloe do her job.'

"She shouldn't be in control."

Jack shook his head, "Why? What is this even about, Audrey? Chloe is the best at her job, despite the fact that she has a," he smiled wistfully, "different approach. Her people trust her and you need to respect that."

"She's sarcastic, rude, she wants to do everything herself, she doesn't think her people can handle anything. She always has them doing things that have no point."

"No point to you, but you are not trained for her job. If she tells them to look for something or upgrade something else it is because she knows that it needs to be done. And there is no reason to doubt her. For god's sake she kept me alive,"

"FOR A YEAR AND A HALF. Thanks, Jack, but I've heard that story before, many, many times."

Jack frowned, "Is that what this is about? Are you jealous of my friendship with Chloe?"

Audrey scoffed, "Please. Like you would ever look twice at Chloe if you didn't need her to work with you."

"Audrey! Chloe is my friend."

"Right, your friend, who's secretly in love with you. Who does anything she can to spend time with you? Even make up problems that do not exist. That's what all the work she's doing is. She knows if she stays late, you'll stay with her. It's pathetic and ridiculous and I can't stand her."

Jack is completely still and silent. How had he never noticed this before? Audrey didn't just have a problem working with Chloe, she actually hated the woman. She hated the woman who saved his life, his best friend, "I don't really know what to say to that Audrey. Except you need to get over it, because in order for CTU to work most efficiently we need Chloe in charge and you are getting in the way of that. It is unacceptable for you to intentionally upset a member of the…."

"God forbid we upset Chloe. My lord, the woman's got you all snowed. Buchanan's like Papa Bear constantly praising her and coddling her, Curtis backs her up time and time again, her stupid tech people act like she's the Messiah, and you….you act like she's this amazing person who saved you from damnation. All she did was make you indebted to her forever. Everything you do is because of her, and you're never going to stop protecting her."

"This isn't about protecting Chloe, it's about protecting CTU," Audrey snorted, but Jack ignored it and continued, "But I am not going to stand here while you bash Chloe. She has stood by me when no one else did. Even when you…"

"What? Left after you got my husband killed and made my life a complete mess, and then, oh, pretended to die on me. But she knew...she knew you were alive."

"Is that what this is really about?"

Audrey turned away, and when she spoke again he heard tears in her eyes, "She knew all those months. I missed you so much, and she knew and no matter what I tell myself I know, inside that you told her, that you kept in touch with her because you trust her, more than anyone else. More than me."

Jack opened his mouth to argue, but found he had to response.

Audrey turned to face him, "You're in love with her. I've known it for months. I told myself I was wrong, that you were grateful and that eventually you'd back away from her, but that didn't happen. Not even when I came to CTU."

"Audrey…" he started and trailed off. She got up and began walking towards the bedroom, "Where are you going?"

"Out, I'll…" she sniffled, "I'll get some stuff and stay at a hotel tonight. I'll come back and get the rest of my stuff tomorrow. I'm going back to Washington."

"Audrey," he began again.

"Please," she said, not looking at him, "Please don't say anything. Just, just let me go."

Jack stood right where he was long after she left the apartment.

&&&&&&

Things should have gone back to normal, except now there was the constant tension between Jack and Chloe. Everyone felt it, no one could escape it and really they all just wanted them to fuck already. Then maybe the air would be breathable again.

And no one wanted them to do it more than Curtis. Because if one more person complained, his head was going to explode. Unfortunately, this time he could not go to Buchanan and tell him to order Jack and Chloe to have sex for the good of CTU, which led him to talk to Jack.

He really hated his job sometimes.

&&&&&&

"Curtis, I'm busy," Jack complained as he was hauled into an interrogation room, "What is the problem?"

Curtis checked that nothing was taping in the room and then turned back toward Jack, "You have to deal with the Chloe situation."

Jack's face turned red, "That is none of your…"

"Business. Normally it isn't. And trust me I hate that I have to get even slightly involved here, but it's starting to drive us all crazy. CTU needs you and our top tech working harmoniously together. So talk to her, scream at each other for a while, or better yet do what we all know you want to do."

"And what do I want to do?"

"Have sex with her. After you tell her you love her, because we all know you do. Even you, who spent months not knowing, now know that you love her. So tell her, so everyone can stop driving me crazy." Curtis stomped out of the room, praying Jack wouldn't shoot him in the back.

&&&&&&

When Jack got to Chloe's the only thing he wanted to do was turn back around. There was no way this was going to go well. In fact it would probably end with her hitting him.

"What do you want?" she asked when she opened the door.

"I want to have sex with you," he blurted out before he could stop himself.

"WHAT?" she shrieked.

"No, I didn't mean that."

"You don't want to have sex with me?"

"No, I do, I uh, I mean no, yes, but not…."

Chloe grabbed his arm and dragged him into the apartment, "Well which is it, sex or no sex?"

"Sex," Jack said.

Chloe shrugged, "Okay, maybe it'll make this whole weird tension thing go away."

"You've noticed the tension?"

Chloe's face clearly told him he was an idiot, "Of course I have. So, let's do it."

"What?"

"Have sex. Fuck, whatever, let's just do it and then we can stop being weird."

"No."

"Can you make up your mind?"

"I can't just…just,"

"Fuck me. We're grown ups Jack. We can say nasty words."

"Chloe," Jack said softly.

Her eyes welled up slightly, "Don't, just don't. I can't take it anymore. One day we're friends and everything is fine and then Audrey comes and she drives me insane, and then she leaves and you start avoiding me like the plague and everyone's whispering. But you, you say nothing, like I'm not even there. And I can't take it, I want my friend back. So let's just have sex, it'll make it better and…."

"I'm in love with you."

Chloe's eyes snapped up to his, "Liar."

"No, I'm not. I'm an idiot and a bastard, but I've never lied to you. I've been ignoring you because Audrey told me that she thought I was in love with you. Then she left and somewhere after that, well, I realized she was right. And I….I didn't know how to deal with it."

"So you ignore me."

"I was afraid you might not feel the same way," he shook his head, "And I was afraid you would feel the same way."

"So why are you telling me now?"

"Because I'm driving myself, you and apparently all of CTU insane. And because I miss you, Chloe. I had no idea I could still miss someone as much as I miss you."

Chloe was silent for a moment, "So, you miss me, we're driving CTU insane, you love me, but you don't want to have sex with me."

Jack smirked and came closer, "No, I'd like to have sex with you, just not once, I'd like to do it many, many times."

Chloe smirked back and wrapped her arms around his neck, "Well, that sounds good, but I should warn you, I'm a little demanding in bed."

Jack laughed, low and deep, "I can't imagine that."

"Well, I am, so you'll have to keep up."

Jack brought his lips down to hers in a passionate kiss. When he pulled back her eyes were foggy and she was smiling, "That was a very good start. How about another?"

"You are demanding."

"Hmm mmm," she agreed as he kissed her again. This time when he pulled back her eyes were closed as she whispered, "I love you too."

Jack kissed her again, pushing her backwards toward the bedroom, "Prove it."


End file.
